The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=no ()), a
syllabic abbreviation
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
of the Russian ), was a political
youth organization
The following is a list of youth organizations. A youth organization is a type of organization with a focus upon providing activities and socialization for Minor (law), minors. In this list, most organizations are international unless noted othe ...
in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
"Hymn of the Bolshevik Party"
, headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow
, general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
, founded =
, banned =
, founder = Vladimir Lenin
, newspaper ...
(CPSU), although it was officially independent and referred to as "the helper and the reserve of the CPSU".
The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban areas in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Young Communist League, or RKSM. During 1922, with the
unification of the USSR, it was reformed into an all-union agency, the youth division of the All-Union Communist Party.
It was the final stage of three youth organizations with members up to age 28, graduated at 14 from the
Young Pioneer
A pioneer movement is an organization for children operated by a communist party. Typically children enter into the organization in elementary school and continue until adolescence. The adolescents then typically join the Young Communist League ...
s, and at nine from the
Little Octobrists
Little Octobrists (russian: октября́та, translit=oktyabryata ; singular, russian: октябрёнок, translit=oktyabryonok) is a Soviet term that first appeared in 1923–1924, and at that time referred to children born in 1917, the ...
.
History
Before the
February Revolution
The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...
of 1917 the
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
s did not display any interest in establishing or maintaining a youth division, but the policy emphasis shifted in the following months.
After the
Russian Civil War
, date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
of 1917–1922 ended, the Soviet government under Lenin introduced a semi-capitalist economic policy to stabilize Russia’s floundering economy. This reform, the
New Economic Policy
The New Economic Policy (NEP) () was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, ...
(NEP), introduced a new social policy of moderation and discipline, especially regarding Soviet youth. Lenin himself stressed the importance of political education of young Soviet citizens in building a new society.
The first Komsomol Congress met in 1918 under the patronage of the Bolshevik Party, despite the two organizations' not entirely coincident membership or beliefs. Party intervention in 1922–1923 proved marginally successful in recruiting members by presenting the ideal Komsomolets (Komsomol youth) as a foil to the "bourgeois
NEPman
NEPmen (russian: Нэпманы, translit=Nepmani) were businesspeople in the early Soviet Union, who took advantage of the opportunities for private trade and small-scale manufacturing provided under the New Economic Policy (NEP, 1921-1928). The ...
". By the time of the second Congress, a year later, however, the Bolsheviks had, in effect, acquired control of the organization, and it was soon formally established as the youth division of the Communist party. However, the party was not very successful overall in recruiting Russian youth during the NEP period (1921–1928).
This came about because of conflict and disillusionment among Soviet youth who romanticised the spontaneity and destruction characteristic of
War Communism
War communism or military communism (russian: Военный коммунизм, ''Voyennyy kommunizm'') was the economic and political system that existed in Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1921.
According to Soviet histo ...
(1918–1921) and the Civil War period. They saw it as their duty, and the duty of the Communist Party itself, to eliminate all elements of Western culture from society. However, the NEP had the opposite effect: after it started, many aspects of Western social behavior began to reemerge. The contrast between the "Good Communist" extolled by the Party and the capitalism fostered by NEP confused many young people. They rebelled against the Party's ideals in two opposite ways: radicals gave up everything that had any Western or capitalist connotations, while the majority of Russian youths felt drawn to the Western-style popular culture of entertainment and fashion. As a result, there was a major slump in interest and membership in the Party-oriented Komsomol.
By 1925 Komsomol had 1 million members, and many others were in theater groups for younger children. In March 1926, Komsomol membership reached a NEP-period peak of 1,750,000 members: only 6 percent of the eligible youth population. Only when Stalin came to power and abandoned the NEP in the first Five Year Plan (1928–1933) did membership increase drastically. The youngest youth eligible for Komsomol membership were fourteen years old. The upper age-limit for ordinary personnel was twenty-eight, but Komsomol functionaries could be older. Younger children joined the allied
Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization
The Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization ( rus, Всесоюзная пионерская организация имени В. И. Ленина, r=Vsesoyuznaya pionerskaya organizatsiya imeni V. I. Lenina, t=The All-Union Pioneer Organi ...
. While membership was nominally voluntary, those who failed to join had no access to officially sponsored holidays and found it very difficult (if not impossible) to pursue higher education.
The Komsomol had little direct influence on the Communist Party or on the government of the Soviet Union, but it played an important role as a mechanism for teaching the values of the CPSU to the younger generation. The Komsomol also served as a mobile pool of labor and political activism, with the ability to relocate to areas of high-priority at short notice. In the 1920s the Kremlin assigned Komsomol major responsibilities for promoting industrialization at the factory level. In 1929, 7,000 Komsomol cadets were building the tractor factory in Stalingrad (volgagrad), 57,000 others built factories in the Urals, and 36,500 were assigned work underground in the coal mines. The goal was to provide an energetic hard-core of Bolshevik activists to influence their coworkers the factories and mines that were at the center of communist ideology.
![Rus Stamp-30 let VLKSM-1948-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Rus_Stamp-30_let_VLKSM-1948-1.jpg)
Active members received privileges and preferences in promotion. For example,
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (– 9 February 1984) was the sixth paramount leader of the Soviet Union and the fourth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year rule, Andropov served in the po ...
, CPSU General Secretary (1982–1984), achieved notice through work with the Komsomol organization of
Karelia
Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...
in 1940–1944. At its largest, during the 1970s, the Komsomol had tens of millions of members.
During the early phases of
perestroika
''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...
in the mid-1980s, when the Soviet authorities began cautiously introducing private enterprise, the Komsomol received privileges with respect to initiating businesses, with the motivation of giving youth a better chance. The government, unions and the Komsomol jointly introduced
(1987). At the same time, many Komsomol managers joined and directed the Russian Regional and State Anti-Monopoly Committees. Folklore quickly coined a motto: "The Komsomol is a school of Capitalism", hinting at
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
's "Trade unions are a school of Communism".
The reforms of
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
,
perestroika
''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...
and
glasnost
''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...
, finally revealed that the quality of Komsomol management was bad. The Komsomol, long associated with conservatism and bureaucracy, had always largely lacked political power. The radical ''Twentieth Congress of the Komsomol'' (April 1987) altered the rules of the organization to represent a market orientation. However, the reforms of the Twentieth Congress eventually destroyed the Komsomol, with lack of purpose and the waning of interest, membership, and quality of membership. At the ''Twenty-second Congress of the Komsomol'' in September 1991, the organization was disbanded. The Komsomol's newspaper, ''
Komsomolskaya Pravda
''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' (russian: link=no, Комсомольская правда; lit. "Komsomol Truth") is a daily Russian tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper, founded on 13 March 1925.
History and profile
During the Soviet era, ...
'', outlived the organization and is still published ().
A number of youth organizations of successor parties to the CPSU continue to use the name ''Komsomol'', as does the youth organization of
Ukrainian communists
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* Som ...
:
Komsomol of Ukraine
The Komsomol of Ukraine, officially the Leninist Communist League of Youth of Ukraine ( uk, Ле́нінська Комуністи́чна Спі́лка Мо́лоді Украї́ни; russian: Ленинская Коммунистическа ...
.
The ideal Komsomolets
![RIAN archive 140977 21st Komsomol congress - Viktor Mironenko steps down](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/RIAN_archive_140977_21st_Komsomol_congress_-_Viktor_Mironenko_steps_down.jpg)
Not only was the ideal Communist youth an asset to his or her organization, but (s)he also "lived correctly". This meant that every aspect of a Komsomolets’s life was to be in accordance with Party doctrine. Smoking, drinking, religion, and any other activity the Bolsheviks saw as threatening were discouraged as "
hooliganism
Hooliganism is disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying and vandalism, usually in connection with crowds at sporting events.
Etymology
There are several theories regarding the origin of the word ''hooliganism,'' which is a d ...
". The Komsomol sought to provide its members with alternative leisure activities that promoted the improvement of society, such as volunteer work, sports, and political and drama clubs. These efforts proved largely unsuccessful, since the Bolshevik Party and the Komsomol were not in touch with Soviet youth's desires and thus were unable to address them. Soviet youth remained relatively politically unaware or uninterested during the NEP period.
Youth campaigns during the NEP period
In 1922, with the establishment of the New Economic Policy, the Soviet government changed their rhetoric directed towards the youth from a revolutionary, militaristic tone to one with emphasis on philosophical education through book-learning and stability of the state by peaceful means. The young communists were uninterested in these new principles, and mass culture campaigns became the most important tool used by the Komsomol as an attempt to retain membership during the 1920s.
One of the most popular campaigns was the Novyi Byt (The New Way of Life). At these assemblies, the leadership of the Komsomol promoted the values they considered to be the most important for the ideal young communist. The New Soviet Man was to be "a lively, active, healthy, disciplined youngster who subordinates himself to the collective and is prepared for and dedicated to learn, study, and work." By establishing strict guidelines to what they expected, the Komsomol was able to denounce the traits and habits they saw as being harmful to the youth. It condemned sexual promiscuity, drinking, smoking and general mischievous behavior, as it posed moral danger to the organization’s young members. The majority of the youth did not take this well, as unsavory activities were enticing to them. At a time when membership was at its lowest (1.7 million in 1925), the Komsomol harmed only itself, as this type of campaign further distanced the organization from their target audience.
The Komsomol also launched campaigns of an anti-religious nature. The new communist regime wished to dismantle the already limited control the Orthodox church had on society, and the young were generally more interested in seeing the upheaval of old traditions than their elders who had lived under the tsar’s rule. The Komsomol rallied members to march in the streets, declaring their independence from religion. Problems came when the enthusiastic youth took this passion too far. Open harassment of church members sprang up, and earned the Komsomol a negative image in the minds of older generations. When the League made attempts to draw back on their anti-religious rhetoric, Soviet youth became increasingly disinterested in the organization.
Youth reactions
Many youths were drawn to "hooliganism" and the Western culture of entertainment, which included cinema and fashion magazines. It is no coincidence that these youths were primarily from the peasantry or working class. They saw Western culture as a way to elevate or distinguish themselves from their humble beginnings. The Soviet authorities eventually made their own films with ideologically "pure" messages, but it was not the same. Soviet pictures, which were often informational or political, lacked the draw of Westerns or romances from Hollywood. Both the authorities and the youths themselves blamed the NEP for corrupting Soviet youth culture. Because the Komsomol was simply not as attractive to these young men and women, the government began to limit their cultural and entertainment options. This signalled the end of the NEP, and the end of the brief influx of Western culture in the Soviet Union before Stalin’s ascendancy.
Militant young Communists were a threat to the older Bolsheviks because they had the potential to undermine the new, NEP-based society. The shift from destruction of an old state to creation of a new one, mirrored by the shift from War Communism to the NEP, was necessary to maintain and stabilise the Bolshevik regime. The Party’s disapproval of young militants was necessary in order not only to define what was considered proper behavior, but also to maintain social and political control over the masses. However, after Stalin came to power and the NEP was abandoned in favor of the Five-Year Plans, many of the young socialists ideas were absorbed back into the mainstream and they no longer presented a problem.
Young women in the Komsomol
The ideology of the new Soviet government under Vladimir Lenin strove to break down societal barriers believed to be harmful to the goal of unity. Specifically, it hoped to elevate women to a level of equality with men. The Komsomol pushed hard to recruit young women and raise them in this new consciousness. In the period of the early 1920s, women primarily stayed at home and performed the majority of housework. Membership of the Komsomol seemed to offer a doorway into public life at a level previously unseen by women of the time. Young women enthusiastically joined as they were finally given a chance to detach themselves from the traditional patriarchal structure. Moreover, they were drawn to the Komsomol because it promised them an education during a time when young girls were deprived of a proper one in favor of preparing them for household duties. The Soviets encouraged women to take an active role in the new system and participate in the same activities and work as their male counterparts.
Major conflicts surfaced when the regime took these new steps. The Bolshevik Party was not the most popular at the time, and much of the rest of the nation wished to hold onto their patriarchal values. Parents hesitated to allow their daughters to join the youth organization, because "the Komsomol seemed like an immoral organization, for it removed young girls from adult control, and then required them to attend meetings held at night." Soviet citizens felt that if they released their hold on their children, they would be corrupted by the Komsomol’s influence. They also worried that if their daughters became independent and promiscuous, then no man would want to marry them. Moreover, parents wondered who would take care of the home if all the young women left home to join the Komsomol.
Women, generally, were also unprepared for the realities of the workforce. The ancient structure of female subordination allowed for little in terms of work experience. Men had been given better education and were traditionally raised to take part in military and industry. Therefore, they had a much wider range of opportunity than women whose only role had been caretaking. Here lies the irony of the regime’s efforts: the Komsomol tried desperately to empower young women to achieve equality, yet women’s perceptions of themselves worsened because they were now being directly compared to their much more prepared counterparts.
Even though the Communist Party preached and demanded equality, men dominated both the governing body and the Komsomol’s leadership. Upward mobility, contrary to initial belief, was incredibly hard for women to achieve. In addition, the organization openly encouraged its female members to pursue positions of teaching and nurturing of young Soviets.
Recruitment of peasant women
The Komsomol also found it difficult to recruit and motivate young women amongst the rural populations. During NEP, this demographic represented only 8% of the organization. Poor membership numbers from rural areas were the result of several different factors. By 1925, the failure to implement equality in the Komsomol was evident to young rural women, society still perceiving them to be inferior both because they were women and because they came from the peasant class. Various women’s organizations criticized the Komsomol for these failures. Chiefly, the
Women’s Bureau of the Communist Party, known as Zhenotdel, openly criticized the youth organization. Komsomol women were provided little in the way of programs that might encourage their involvement. Annual conferences, where organization leaders gathered to discuss topics of interest to female members, were in fact the only activities in which early Komsomol women took part. The Youth League therefore made concerted efforts to resolve these issues and raise membership amongst peasant women.
Strategies for recruiting women in the 1920s
The Komsomol’s original tactic to recruit peasant women failed miserably. Representatives were sent to the countryside to reveal to potential recruits that they were being oppressed by male dominance, and that the youth organization provided them with an opportunity to recreate themselves as independent women. However, women did not rally to the League in the numbers that the organization hoped for. The Komsomol turned to the Zhenotdel, which was more favorable to young peasant women, and cooperated with them to achieve better results. Another strategy was the addition of activities suited to the interests of the target demographic. Sewing and knitting classes became popular during the 1920s for rural Komsomol women. Additionally, educational classes, such as health and feminine hygiene were used to both draw more female members and alleviate concerns of rural parents. Peasant families were more inclined to allow their daughters to join the Komsomol since they knew they would be participating in beneficial programs rather than mischievous behaviors such as drinking and dancing.
Class issues in recruitment
Soldiers returning from the Civil War, students in provincial towns, and workers fleeing the poverty of the cities established the first rural Komsomol cells in 1918. Most administrators, who wanted to retain the "proletarian character" of the organization, did not initially welcome peasants into the Komsomol. However, it soon became obvious that peasants were too large a part of the population (80%) to ignore. Also, peasants, who were benefiting from the NEP’s compromise with small producers, were in a better position to join than workers, who struggled with unemployment and other economic problems and thus had less interest in joining.
Older peasants reacted negatively to the growth of the Komsomol in rural areas. They saw the administrators as intruders who prevented their children from fulfilling their family obligations. The Komsomol needed full-time commitment, and peasant youths, who saw it as a chance for social mobility, education, and economic success, were willing to abandon their traditional duties to join. At the end of NEP, the majority of Komsomol members were peasants, while the administration remained largely urban.
Both the urban and rural populations had problems with the Komsomol’s attempts to unify the two demographics. Rural parents believed that because the League’s administration was city-centered, their children would be negatively influenced by city dwellers. In addition, land-owning peasants were much more affected by the government’s revocation of private ownership, and many were uninterested in allowing their children to participate. For its part, the urban population viewed itself as superior to the peasants. They saw the rural members as backward and uneducated, and were angered by their swelling numbers.
Komsomol adopted meritocratic, supposedly class-blind membership policies in 1935, but the result was a decline in working-class youth members, and a dominance by the better educated youth.
Leaders (First Secretary of the Central Committee)
*
Yefim Tsetlin (1918–1919)
*
Oscar Ryvkin (1918–1921)
*
Lazar Shatskin Lazar Abramovich Shatskin (Russian: Лазарь Абрамович Шацкин; born in Suwałki in 1902) was a Soviet and Communist International functionary and one of the founders of Komsomol.
He was born to a wealthy family of Polish Jewish ...
(1921–1922)
*
Pyotr Smorodin
Pyotr Ivanovich Smorodin (Russian language, Russian: Пётр Иванович Смородин; 20 January 1897 – 25 February 1939) was a Soviet people, Soviet politician who was a founding member of the Komsomol, the First Secretary of the C ...
(1922–1924)
*
Nikolai Chaplin
Nikolai Pavlovich Chaplin (Russian: Николай Павлович Чаплин; 19 December 1902 – 23 September 1938) was a Soviet politician who served as the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol from 1924 to 1928 as wel ...
(1924–1928)
*
Alexander Milchakov
Alexander Ivanovich Milchakov (Russian: Александр Иванович Мильчаков; 11 October 1903 – 17 July 1973) was a Soviet politician and political activist who was known for serving as the First Secretary of the Central Comm ...
(1928–1929)
*
Aleksandr Kosarev (1929–1938)
*
Nikolai Mikhailov (1938–1952)
*
Aleksandr Shelepin
Alexander Nikolayevich Shelepin (; 18 August 1918 – 24 October 1994) was a Soviet politician and security and intelligence officer. A long-time member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he served as First Dep ...
(1952–1958)
*
Vladimir Semichastny
Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny (russian: Влади́мир Ефи́мович Семича́стный, January 15, 1924 – January 12, 2001) was a Soviet politician, who served as Chairman of the KGB from November 1961 to May 1967. A pro ...
(1958–1959)
*
Sergei Pavlov (1959–1968)
* (1968–1977)
* (1977–1982)
* (1982–1986)
* (1986–1990)
* (1990–1991)
Branches
![100th Anniversary of Komsomol](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/100th_Anniversary_of_Komsomol._Belarus._No._1281.jpg)
*
Armenian SSR
The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...
: ''
Հայաստանի լենինյան կոմունիստական երիտասարդական միություն'', ՀԼԿԵՄ
*
Azerbaijan SSR
Azerbaijan ( az, Азәрбајҹан, Azərbaycan, italics=no), officially the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR; az, Азәрбајҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы, Azərbaycan Sovet Sosialist R ...
: ''Leninist Young Communist League of Azerbaijan'', ALKSM
*
Byelorussian SSR
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор ...
: ''
Ленінскі Камуністычны саюз моладзі Беларусі'', ЛКСМБ
*
Estonian SSR
The Estonian SSR,, russian: Эстонская ССР officially the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic,, russian: Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика was an ethnically based adminis ...
: ''
Eestimaa Leninlik Kommunistlik Noorsooühing'', ELKNÜ
*
Georgian SSR
The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц ...
:
*
Karelo-Finnish SSR
The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Karelo-Finnish SSR; fi, ; rus, Каре́ло-Фи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, r=Karelo-Finskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Resp ...
:
Ленинский коммунистический союз молодежи Карело-Финской ССР, ЛКСМ КФССР
*
Kazakh SSR
; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы)
*1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы)
, linking_name = the ...
:
*
Kirghiz SSR
The Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic (Kirghiz SSR; ky, Кыргыз Советтик Социалисттик Республикасы, Kyrgyz Sovettik Sotsialisttik Respublikasy, ky, Кыргыз ССР, Kyrgyz SSR, russian: Киргизск ...
:
*
Latvian SSR
The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR), also known as Soviet Latvia or simply Latvia, was a federated republic within the Soviet Union, and formally one of its 16 (later 15) constituent republics. The Latvian Soviet Socialist Rep ...
: ''
Latvijas Ļeņina Komunistiskā Jaunatnes Savienība'', LĻKJS
*
Lithuanian SSR
The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; lt, Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika; russian: Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialistiche ...
: ''
Lietuvos Lenino komunistinė jaunimo sąjunga'', LLKJS
*
Moldavian SSR
The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ro, Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: ) was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 1940 ...
: UTCLM (abbreviation)
*
Russian SFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
: Ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи РСФСР, ЛКСМ РСФСР
*
Tajik SSR
The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic,, ''Çumhuriji Şūraviji Sotsialistiji Toçikiston''; russian: Таджикская Советская Социалистическая Республика, ''Tadzhikskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Resp ...
:
*
Turkmen SSR
Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to:
Peoples Historical ethnonym
* Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages
Ethnic groups
* Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...
:
*
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
: ''
Ленінська Комуністична спілка молоді України'', ЛКСМУ)
*
Uzbek SSR
Uzbekistan (, ) is the common English name for the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR; uz, Ўзбекистон Совет Социалистик Республикаси, Oʻzbekiston Sovet Sotsialistik Respublikasi, in Russian: Уз ...
: ''
Ўзбекистон Ленинчи коммунистик ёшлар союзи'', OʻzLKSM
Public safety
*
Voluntary People's Druzhina
Voluntary People's Druzhina (russian: Добровольная народная дружина, ДНД, Dobrovolnaya narodnaya druzhina, DND) variously translated as Voluntary People’s Guard, People’s Volunteer Squads, People's Volunteer Mil ...
Children's organization
*
Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union
The Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization ( rus, Всесоюзная пионерская организация имени В. И. Ленина, r=Vsesoyuznaya pionerskaya organizatsiya imeni V. I. Lenina, t=The All-Union Pioneer Organi ...
Honors
The Komsomol received three
Orders of Lenin
The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...
, one
Order of the Red Banner
The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...
, one
Order of the Red Banner of Labour
The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...
, and one
Order of the October Revolution
The Order of the October Revolution (russian: Орден Октябрьской Революции, ''Orden Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii'') was instituted on October 31, 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was conferr ...
. The asteroid
1283 Komsomolia is named after the Komsomol, as is
Komsomolets Island
Komsomolets Island in Severnaya Zemlya
Komsomolets Island (russian: остров Комсомолец) is the northernmost island of the Severnaya Zemlya group in the Russian Arctic, and the third largest island in the group. It is the 82nd lar ...
in the Arctic Ocean. The
Komsomolets armored tractor
T-20 armored tractor Komsomolets , an armored continuous track tractor, the T-20 was a prime mover vehicle used by the Soviet Union during the Winter War and World War II.
Description
The T-20 was designed in 1936 at the Ordzhonikidze Moscow ...
was a model used during the Second World War, while the first Soviet nuclear submarine was
K-3 ''Leninsky Komsomol''; a later submarine was called
K-278 ''Komsomolets''.
There are also several
towns and cities named Komsomolsky,
Komsomolets or
Komsomolsk.
Gallery
File:RIAN archive 589063 The YCL Honorary Badge.jpg, Komsomol Honorary Badge
File:RIAN archive 468648 Sign of winner of Lenin Komsomol prize.jpg, Komsomol Prize winner medal
File:RIAN archive 468937 Soldier's Valour sign of Central Committee of Komsomol.jpg, Soldier's Valour sign of the Central Committee of the Komsomol
File:Rus Stamp-35 let VLKSM-1.jpg, Old version of Komsomol badge on a USSR stamp
File:VLKSM Member Pin.jpg, Komsomol membership badge
File:The Soviet Union 1970 CPA 3897 stamp (Komsomol badge).jpg, Soviet Union stamp, 1970, CPA 3897. XVI Congress of VLKSM
See also
*
Communist Youth League of China
The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), also known as the Young Communist League of China or simply the Communist Youth League (CYL), is a youth movement of the People's Republic of China for youth between the ages of 14 and 28, run by the ...
*
Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union
The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union ( (Đoàn TNCS)), simply recognized as the Union (), is the largest social-political organisation of Vietnamese youth. The union is under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam. The organization wa ...
References
Notes
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Hulicka, Karel; "The Komsomol." ''Southwestern Social Science Quarterly'' (1962): 363-373
online* Krylova, Anna. ''Soviet Women in Combat: A History of Violence on the Eastern Front'' (2010)
* Pilkington, Hilary. ''Russia's Youth and its Culture: A Nation's Constructors and Constructed'' (1995)
*
*
*
in Russian
* Il'insky, I. ''VLKSM v politicheskoi systeme sovetskogo obshchestva.'' (The VLKSM in the political system of Soviet society). Moscow: Molodaia gvardiia, 1981.
– In Russian.
External links
*
Komsomol RussiaKomsomol UkraineKomsomol MoldovaKomsomol BelarusKomsomol Kazakhstan
{{Authority control
Organization of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Youth wings of communist parties
Youth organizations based in the Soviet Union
Youth organizations established in 1918
1918 establishments in Russia
Organizations disestablished in 1991
1991 disestablishments in the Soviet Union